Volume 4 — DETAILED CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV.

WHY I AM AN AGNOSTIC.

(1896.) I. Influence of Birth in determining Religious Belief—Scotch, Irish, English, and Americans Inherit their Faith—Religions of Nations not Suddenly Changed—People who Knew—What they were Certain About—Revivals—Character of Sermons Preached—Effect of Conversion—A Vermont Farmer for whom Perdition had no Terrors—The Man and his Dog—Backsliding and Re-birth—Ministers who were Sincere—A Free Will Baptist on the Rich Man and Lazarus—II. The Orthodox God—The Two Dispensations—The Infinite Horror—III. Religious Books—The Commentators—Paley's Watch Argument—Milton, Young, and Pollok—IV. Studying Astronomy—Geology—Denial and Evasion by the Clergy—V. The Poems of Robert Burns—Byron, Shelley, Keats, and Shakespeare—VI. Volney, Gibbon, and Thomas Paine—Voltaire's Services to Liberty—Pagans Compared with Patriarchs—VII. Other Gods and Other Religions—Dogmas, Myths, and Symbols of Christianity Older than our Era—VIII. The Men of Science, Humboldt, Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, Haeckel—IX. Matter and Force Indestructible and Uncreatable—The Theory of Design—X. God an Impossible Being—The Panorama of the Past—XI. Free from Sanctified Mistakes and Holy Lies.

THE TRUTH.

(1897.) I. The Martyrdom of Man—How is Truth to be Found—Every Man should be Mentally Honest—He should be Intellectually Hospitable—Geologists, Chemists, Mechanics, and Professional Men are Seeking for the Truth—II. Those who say that Slavery is Better than Liberty—Promises are not Evidence—Horace Greeley and the Cold Stove—III. "The Science of Theology" the only Dishonest Science—Moses and Brigham Young—Minds Poisoned and Paralyzed in Youth—Sunday Schools and Theological Seminaries—Orthodox Slanderers of Scientists—Religion has nothing to do with Charity—Hospitals Built in Self-Defence—What Good has the Church Accomplished?—Of what use are the Orthodox Ministers, and What are they doing for the Good of Mankind—The Harm they are Doing—Delusions they Teach—Truths they Should Tell about the Bible—Conclusions—Our Christs and our Miracles.

HOW TO REFORM MANKIND.

(1896.) I. "There is no Darkness but Ignorance"—False Notions Concerning All Departments of Life—Changed Ideas about Science, Government and Morals—II. How can we Reform the World?—Intellectual Light the First Necessity—Avoid Waste of Wealth in War—III. Another Waste—Vast Amount of Money Spent on the Church—IV. Plow can we Lessen Crime?—Frightful Laws for the Punishment of Minor Crimes—A Penitentiary should be a School—Professional Criminals should not be Allowed to Populate the Earth—V. Homes for All-Make a Nation of Householders—Marriage and Divorce-VI. The Labor Question—Employers cannot Govern Prices—Railroads should Pay Pensions—What has been Accomplished for the Improvement of the Condition of Labor—VII. Educate the Children—Useless Knowledge—Liberty cannot be Sacrificed for the Sake of Anything—False worship of Wealth—VIII. We must Work and Wait.

A THANKSGIVING SERMON.

(1897.) I. Our fathers Ages Ago—From Savagery to Civilization—For the Blessings we enjoy, Whom should we Thank?—What Good has the Church Done?-Did Christ add to the Sum of Useful Knowledge—The Saints—What have the Councils and Synods Done?—What they Gave us, and What they did Not—Shall we Thank them for the Hell Here and for the Hell of the Future?—II. What Does God Do?—The Infinite Juggler and his Puppets—What the Puppets have Done—Shall we Thank these Gods?—Shall we Thank Nature?—III. Men who deserve our Thanks—The Infidels, Philanthropists and Scientists—The Discoverers and Inventors—Magellan—Copernicus—Bruno—Galileo—Kepler, Herschel, Newton, and LaPlace—Lyell—What the Worldly have Done—Origin and Vicissitudes of the Bible—The Septuagint—Investigating the Phenomena of Nature—IV. We thank the Good Men and Good Women of the Past—The Poets, Dramatists, and Artists—The Statesmen—Paine, Jefferson, Ericsson, Lincoln. Grant—Voltaire, Humboldt, Darwin.

A LAY SERMON.

(1886.) Prayer of King Lear—When Honesty wears a Rag and Rascality a Robe-The Nonsense of "Free Moral Agency "—Doing Right is not Self-denial-Wealth often a Gilded Hell—The Log House—Insanity of Getting More—Great Wealth the Mother of Crime—Separation of Rich and Poor—Emulation—Invention of Machines to Save Labor—Production and Destitution—The Remedy a Division of the Land—Evils of Tenement Houses—Ownership and Use—The Great Weapon is the Ballot—Sewing Women—Strikes and Boycotts of No Avail—Anarchy, Communism, and Socialism—The Children of the Rich a Punishment for Wealth—Workingmen Not a Danger—The Criminals a Necessary Product—Society's Right to Punish—The Efficacy of Kindness—Labor is Honorable—Mental Independence.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH.

(1895.) I. The Old Testament—Story of the Creation—Age of the Earth and of Man—Astronomical Calculations of the Egyptians—The Flood—The Firmament a Fiction—Israelites who went into Egypt—Battles of the Jews—Area of Palestine—Gold Collected by David for the Temple—II. The New Testament—Discrepancies about the Birth of Christ—Herod and the Wise Men—The Murder of the Babes of Bethlehem—When was Christ born—Cyrenius and the Census of the World—Genealogy of Christ according to Matthew and Luke—The Slaying of Zacharias—Appearance of the Saints at the Crucifixion—The Death of Judas Iscariot—Did Christ wish to be Convicted?—III. Jehovah—IV. The Trinity—The Incarnation—Was Christ God?—The Trinity Expounded—"Let us pray"—V. The Theological Christ—Sayings of a Contradictory Character—Christ a Devout Jew—An ascetic—His Philosophy—The Ascension—The Best that Can be Said about Christ—The Part that is beautiful and Glorious—The Other Side—VI. The Scheme of Redemption—VII. Belief—Eternal Pain—No Hope in Hell, Pity in Heaven, or Mercy in the Heart of God—VIII. Conclusion.

SUPERSTITION.

(1898.) I. What is Superstition?—Popular Beliefs about the Significance of Signs, Lucky and Unlucky Numbers, Days, Accidents, Jewels, etc.—Eclipses, Earthquakes, and Cyclones as Omens—Signs and Wonders of the Heavens—Efficacy of Bones and Rags of Saints—Diseases and Devils—II. Witchcraft—Necromancers—What is a Miracle?—The Uniformity of Nature—III. Belief in the Existence of Good Spirits or Angels—God and the Devil—When Everything was done by the Supernatural—IV. All these Beliefs now Rejected by Men of Intelligence—The Devil's Success Made the Coming of Christ a Necessity—"Thou shalt not Suffer a Witch to Live"—Some Biblical Angels—Vanished Visions—V. Where are Heaven and Hell?—Prayers Never Answered—The Doctrine of Design—Why Worship our Ignorance?—Would God Lead us into Temptation?—President McKinley's Thanks giving for the Santiago Victory—VI. What Harm Does Superstition Do?—The Heart Hardens and the Brain Softens—What Superstition has Done and Taught—Fate of Spain—Of Portugal, Austria, Germany—VII. Inspired Books—Mysteries added to by the Explanations of Theologians—The Inspired Bible the Greatest Curse of Christendom—VIII. Modifications of Jehovah—Changing the Bible—IX. Centuries of Darkness—The Church Triumphant—When Men began to Think—X. Possibly these Superstitions are True, but We have no Evidence—We Believe in the Natural—Science is the Real Redeemer.

THE DEVIL.

(1899.) I. If the Devil should Die, would God Make Another?—How was the Idea of a Devil Produced—Other Devils than Ours—Natural Origin of these Monsters—II. The Atlas of Christianity is The Devil—The Devil of the Old Testament—The Serpent in Eden—"Personifications" of Evil—Satan and Job—Satan and David—III. Take the Devil from the Drama of Christianity and the Plot is Gone—Jesus Tempted by the Evil One—Demoniac Possession—Mary Magdalene—Satan and Judas—Incubi and Succubi—The Apostles believed in Miracles and Magic—The Pool of Bethesda—IV. The Evidence of the Church—The Devil was forced to Father the Failures of God—Belief of the Fathers of the Church in Devils—Exorcism at the Baptism of an Infant in the Sixteenth Century—Belief in Devils made the Universe a Madhouse presided over by an Insane God—V. Personifications of the Devil—The Orthodox Ostrich Thrusts his Head into the Sand—If Devils are Personifications so are all the Other Characters of the Bible—VI. Some Queries about the Devil, his Place of Residence, his Manner of Living, and his Object in Life—Interrogatories to the Clergy—VII. The Man of Straw the Master of the Orthodox Ministers—His recent Accomplishments—VIII. Keep the Devils out of Children—IX. Conclusion.—Declaration of the Free.

PROGRESS.

(1860-64.) The Prosperity of the World depends upon its Workers—Veneration for the Ancient—Credulity and Faith of the Middle Ages—Penalty for Reading the Scripture in the Mother Tongue—Unjust, Bloody, and Cruel Laws—The Reformers too were Persecutors—Bigotry of Luther and Knox—Persecution of Castalio—Montaigne against Torture in France—"Witchcraft" (chapter on)—Confessed Wizards—A Case before Sir Matthew Hale—Belief in Lycanthropy—Animals Tried and Executed—Animals received as Witnesses—The Corsned or Morsel of Execution—Kepler an Astrologer—Luther's Encounter with the Devil—Mathematician Stoefflers, Astronomical Prediction of a Flood—Histories Filled with Falsehood—Legend about the Daughter of Pharaoh invading Scotland and giving the Country her name—A Story about Mohammed—A History of the Britains written by Archdeacons—Ingenuous Remark of Eusebius—Progress in the Mechanic Arts—England at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century—Barbarous Punishments—Queen Elizabeth's Order Concerning Clergymen and Servant Girls—Inventions of Watt, Arkwright, and Others—Solomon's Deprivations—Language (chapter on)—Belief that the Hebrew was< the original Tongue—Speculations about the Language of Paradise—Geography (chapter on)—The Works of Cosmas—Printing Invented—Church's Opposition to Books—The Inquisition—The Reformation—"Slavery" (chapter on)—Voltaire's Remark on Slavery as a Contract—White Slaves in Greece, Rome, England, Scotland, and France—Free minds make Free Bodies—Causes of the Abolition of White Slavery in Europe—The French Revolution—The African Slave Trade, its Beginning and End—Liberty Triumphed (chapter head)—Abolition of Chattel Slavery—Conclusion.

WHAT IS RELIGION?

(1899.) I. Belief in God and Sacrifice—Did an Infinite God Create the Children of Men and is he the Governor of the Universe?—II. If this God Exists, how do we Know he is Good?—Should both the Inferior and the Superior thank God for their Condition?—III. The Power that Works for Righteousness—What is this Power?—The Accumulated Experience of the World is a Power Working for Good?—Love the Commencement of the Higher Virtues—IV. What has our Religion Done?—Would Christians have been Worse had they Adopted another Faith?—V. How Can Mankind be Reformed Without Religion?—VI. The Four Corner-stones of my Theory—VII. Matter and Force Eternal—Links in the Chain of Evolution—VIII. Reform—The Gutter as a Nursery—Can we Prevent the Unfit from Filling the World with their Children?—Science must make Woman the Owner and Mistress of Herself—Morality Born of Intelligence—IX. Real Religion and Real Worship.